I had a professor in college who taught me two valuable lessons. Lesson one began when I bolted up to him after class to argue about a grade. I had been arguing in my head since he handed out the results so proceeded to escalate the argument now that I had him in front of me. His response became a lasting lesson once the sting settled: “Best to be calm, young man.”
Another time I somehow committed to buying a keg for my friends if I scored 100% on a recent exam. I got a question wrong, scoring 98%, but for some reason I can’t recall the professor gave everyone an extra 2 points. Should I buy the keg? I asked the professor for his advice. Once again, a lasting lesson, this time on technicalities: “You scored 100%. Buy the keg.”
Each year I set goals for myself across three categories: personal, family and professional. I just review them. One of this year’s family goals was to enjoy 4 getaways or vacations with family. I smirked when I saw it on the list. When I wrote the goal, we were living in Chicago and our second daughter was about a month old. We had always been big travelers and it was important to me that we carried on. I worried we’d be so swamped with parenting that we’d forget to keep exploring! The trips I had in mind were short breaks from daily routines. The 4 trips we ended up taking were unimaginably different. Yet, in keeping with the good professor’s lesson, I duly scored my goal a success.
There’s one more lesson here, and I hope to never forget it: when good fortune comes knocking, answer the door!